Q&A: What Really Happens Oct. 17 If There’s No Debt Deal?

Oct 16, 2013 12:08 pm ET

Dear Washington Wire, I’m watching TV and listening to the radio and everyone is saying that Thursday Oct. 17 is the deadline for budget talks. Is that right? What happens tomorrow if Congress doesn’t come to an accommodation today? Does the country head off the cliff? Do we default?

Yours sincerely,Confused of America

Dear Confused, It’s a source of some irritation to us that so few people appear to understand the sequence of events here. This is hugely important to the terms of the debate, and yet the political debate has largely obfuscated the situation.

Let’s be clear about one thing: There is a lot of legitimate debate about what happens. And it’s actually that same lack of clarity that worries a lot of people, especially on Wall Street.

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